Free: the Ben Folds one

Ben Folds wryly observed the perils of being “male, middle-class and white,” on his last album, Rockin’ The Suburbs. A masterpiece of melodic rock, a jaundiced view of suburban life and a brilliant parade of spoiled brats, pathetic losers and bored underachievers.

Few escape the caustic wit of the former head of North Carolina trio, Ben Folds Five, whose quirky sense of humour (and lack of guitars) distinguished albums like Whatever And Ever Amen. The singer and piano virtuoso went solo in 2001, when “the band ran out of drive and stopped being fun.” Now dwelling in Adelaide with his Australian wife, he’s spent much of the interim touring with his trusty piano and releases a live album on October 8.

“It’s my favourite album, ’cause I didn’t have to go into the studio,” he explains. “I’ve always been vexed by that stress and I’m not the sort of person who lets it roll off my back. This album is a more representative of what I do. I just got in a van with my sound man, without the big entourage. Musicians can be exploited, with people doing all this work you didn’t ask for and don’t need. Why make it so complicated? Just get in the fucking van and play the gig.”

Ben also bemoans the quandaries involved in distributing albums, due, he says, to the presence of “lots of shits and fucks” in his lyrical content. “If you have anything considered ‘unsavoury’,” he adds, “your album won’t get stocked by the big chains. If you compromise you end up collaborating with Wallmart. It would’ve damaged my life financially if I’d told them to fuck off, which I was prepared to do. So I’ve ended up doing two versions of certain records.”

It was a relief that his recent side-project, Fear Of Pop, didn’t require similar mass marketing hassles. “I recorded it in a month, and it’s the kind of music I used to do as a teenager,” he says. “I’ve got another one like it lurking in the back of my head.”

But how come Captain Kirk – aka William Shatner – end up guesting on the record?

“I bought his crazy spoken word record at a yard sale in the ‘70’s,” he remembers. “People make fun, but I love how he speaks the song, his timing is so fucked up.”

Of the other two members of Ben Folds Five, he says, “We don’t cross paths that much. Robert has a studio and Darren has started a band. I assume they’re doing well.” But the old tunes will be forthcoming on his UK and Irish tour: “I’ll be choosing at will from everything I’ve ever written. With my piano comes the freedom to play whatever I feel like.”